Posts Tagged ‘Wigram Brewing Co’

Did I ever tell you about my obsession with Wheat beer? Well, this is my latest tasting – not exactly renowned as a beer suitable for a chilly autumn evening but who cares? The availability of international examples is somewhat limited in NZ and it thankfully the mainsteam breweries haven’t yet offered some cheap, second rate, domestic version (though the purest might suggest that Mac’s Great White fulfils this role, I quite like it).

Despite this, interest in wheat beer is growing and a large number of NZ craft brewers having at least one wheat beer in their line up. This example is from Wigram Brewing Co in Christchurch.

Style: Bavarian Hefe Weizen, 5% abv, 500ml bottle

I’ve tried several NZ craft examples of wheat beer now and I think so far this is my favourite. Several examples I’ve tried are somewhat removed from traditional international examples but this one certainly approached a typical Hefe Weizen style. Light straw in colour (my example was lighter than the picture) the beer was a good balance of sweet banana and clove flavours with an underlying lager malt base. The beer poured with minimal effervescence but ended up with a good head after the residual yeast and beer was shaken and poured from the bottle. Highly drinkable, it was disappointing to reach the end of the glass.

I’ve heard good things about Wigram beers and am looking forward to trying their other styles which include Dark, Dunkel, Bitter, Pilsener, Lager, a Honey Ale, and a Spruce beer based on Captain Cook’s first NZ beer.